John Adams to Abigail Adams

[dateline] L'Orient June 14. 1779

[salute] My dearest Friend

I have been often disappointed, and therefore cannot be perfectly sure now: but my
Baggage is all on Board a Frigate of the Kings, and I am to take Passage in her, with
the Chevalier de la Luzerne the new Ambassador to the united States, and Monsieur
Marbois, the Secretary to the Commission, two Gentlemen of the most amiable Characters.
Their will be Eighteen or twenty Persons in their Train. We expect to go to Boston,
but may possibly go to Philadelphia.1

I ought not to give you an History of my Adventures for Four Months past, untill I
see you. This goes by another Vessell: but I hope you will see me before it.

The French Fleet is out from Brest, and the French look up now with a good Countenance.—England
is torn with Distractions, and Spain is expected soon to declare. Holland and the
Northern Powers have made Declarations which sufficiently indicate their Determination,
which is favourable to Us. Britannia, in short must soon hearken to Reason.

My dear Fellow Traveller is very well, and is the Comfort of my Life. He is much caressed,
wherever he goes.—Remember me to the rest. What can I say more? No Words, no Actions
can express the Ardour of Affection with which I am theirs & yours.

[signed] John Adams

Not one Line from America since yours by the Alliance, nor any from Congress since
October or the Beg[inning] of Novr.—a Pause that has consumed a great deal of my Patience, but I have Bags and
Boxes of it yet left, in Abundance.

1. At one point during his tiresome wait JA expressed the view that the French government was treating him with “Insolence, and
Contempt” (Diary and Autobiography, 2:369). But the great civility of both La Luzerne and his articulate and sophisticated
secretary of legation, Marbois, toward JA and JQA at once overcame all such resentful feelings (same, p. 380).

Concerning Anne César, Chevalier de La Luzerne (1741–1791), François Barbé-Marbois (later Marquis de Barbé-Marbois) (1745–1837), and their subsequent relations with JA, see under both their names in the index to JA's Diary and Autobiography.

The passengers boarded the frigate La Sensible, Capt. Bidé de Chavagnes, early in the morning of 17 June and { 206 } sailed in mid-afternoon. They arrived in Boston Harbor on 2 (or possibly 3) Aug.;
see below, Samuel Adams to AA, 31 July, note 2. JA's account of the voyage is one of the most engaging among his many records of travel;
see JA, Diary and Autobiography, 2:381–400.

Docno: ADMS-04-03-02-0160

Author: Adams, Abigail

Recipient: Lovell, James

DateRange: 1779-06-18 - 1779-06-26

Abigail Adams to James Lovell

Do you love the Natural sentiments of the Heart[?] Take them then as they flow from the pen of Portia. Having been to take a ride this
afternoon upon my return stopt at my Brother Cranchs when one of the family came to
the chaise and told me a Gentleman from Boston had left a large packet for me in the
House. My Heart bounded for joy—I besought him to deliver them Instantly to me. The
Bulk of the packet insured them a pressure to my Bosom. My spirits danced. It was
dark, I could not see the hand writing but was in no doubt from whence they came.
The Space between my Brothers and my own house was a dozen mile and it seemd like an age to get to it. I sprang from the chaise, calld for a light
before I got into the house, but when I came to the light it was Mr. L[ovel]l['s] hand writing. O the Letters had arrived at Philadelphia, and he ever attentive to
the calls of Friendship had coverd them to me. I broke the Seal and the dear delusion
vanished like the “baseless fabrick of a vision.” An involuntary tear (it could not
be helpd) found its way and for the first time I did not feel that pleasure which
always before accompanied a Letter from Mr. Lovell. Six Months and not one line. Expectations
so raised and so damped must plead my excuse for so unpolite a reception to my much
valued correspondent, to whom for the future I shall give leave to make use of what ever expressions he pleases in order to prove that my Benevolence
is eaquel to my power, having from a further acquaintance with him discoverd that the talent for which
I formerly censured him is natural to him and that far from being a slothfull servant
he has improved it tenfold. Nor would I rob him of the pleasure he takes in thus indulgeing
the too pleasing art, since it must be acknowledged that he is an accomplished proficient in it.

I will not disclaim the Epethet of amiable since it is a character which if I do not
already possess [it] I would wish to obtain even to the value of her whose price was far above rubies.

Your dissertation upon Letter peaping diverted me. I am glad however that you had
no curiosity to gratify, or held yourself otherways restrained from inspecting the
Letters of P[ortia]. For having flatterd me with a <first> place in your Esteem I should have been loth to have { 207 } forfeited it, since I have no right to expect nor a wish to obtain from any other
than the person to whom they were addressd that which an Antient Sage has told us
covereth a multitude of faults. The Manuscript you mention did not come by the hand
which brought the Letters. I am happy sir if any of the contents of the Trunk were
serviceable to you and you will oblige both my absent Friend for whom I know I can
answer as well as the present writer in retaining both the Jacket and Stockings and
in never mentioning them again.2

I stand indebted to you sir for a Letter dated March 9th. as well as June 5th in the
former of which you say there is a strange delay and some thing of Mystery in the
propositions which have been lately made here respecting our foreign affairs, but
be assured that I have not yet perceived any thing which will probably affect Mr.
A in a dissagreable Manner.

I wish you had explaind yourself more fully or was it out of tenderness to me that
you would not tell me that I might have reason to daily expect his return, knowing
the anxiety I must suffer in the interval.

If he has not been recalld I know not how to account for a passage in a Letter which
has come to hand since I took my pen to you. It is from Dr. Winship belonging to the
Alliance, to his wife and dated Brest harbour 7 of April. “It is now determined that
we return to Boston as soon as may be, and what convinces me that we shall make all possible speed is that Mr. Adams is to return in the ship.”3 97 prisoners had been sent from England [with] which the ship would be well man'd. I have since heard some resolves of congress4 which I think makes it probable that he would return either with or without leave, since if he was not in a situation to serve his country, he would be unhappy
absent from his family. God grant him a safe return, and that in future he may retire
from publick life.

There has been 3 several appointments here of gentlemen for members of congress, all
of whom have declined. This state will find it something difficult to supply the places
of the present indefatagable Labourers there.5 It begins to be considerd as rather burdensome and no loaves and fishes to be caught.—But
if virtue says my absent Friend on a similar occasion, was to be rewarded with wealth
it would not be virtue, if virtue was to be rewarded with fame it would not be virtue
of the sublimist kind. Who would not rather be Fabricus than Ceasar, who would not
rather be Aristedes than even W[illiam] the 3d. Who? Nobody would be of this mind but Aristedes and Fabricius.

I fancy I had better close this Letter without any further addition least you should
discover that I am not in a very good humour, pos• { 208 } sibly from wrong information. I will therefore endeavour to suppress every dissagreable
Idea of publick Slight and indignity till assertained of the Truth or falcity by Mr.
S. A[dams] whose daily arrival is expected, and in the mean time I shall anxiously wait for
the return of the Alliance, perplexd with a thousand fears and apprehension which I do not owe the publick and for which—but hush, did I not say I would close but not till I have assured you
that I am with sentiments of Esteem your Friend & humble Servant,

[signed] Portia

Dft (Adams Papers); at head of text in JQA's hand: “To James Lovell Philadelphia 1779,” to which CFA added: “June <1778>.”

1. This date is furnished in Lovell's reply, 19 July, below, to the missing RC.

3. Amos Windship (1745–1813), a Boston physician and apothecary, was at this time serving as surgeon aboard the
Alliance and thus knew something of JA's movements and plans from encounters with him at Brest and Lorient; see JA, Diary and Autobiography, 2:337, 353, 360, 368, 376. In an earlier note on Windship in this series, the editors did not know how to account
for AA's reference to him as “the famous Dr. W[ind]ship” (vol. 2:187–188). That this was sarcasm becomes clear from a long and curious biographical sketch
of Windship by Ephraim Eliot, a contemporary and fellow apothecary, contributed by
S. E. Morison to Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns., 25 (1922–1924): 141–171, hitherto overlooked by the Adams editors. Eliot's sketch
is entitled “Biography of a Rascal,” and from the details it furnishes Windship clearly
was one. During his single year in Harvard College he entered on a career of casual
but engaging knavery that continued with only occasional deviations into respectability
until his death.

5. This observation is borne out by the proceedings of the General Court. In Oct. 1778,
seven delegates had been elected (or reelected) to serve for the year 1779 in the
Continental Congress: Samuel Adams, Francis Dana, Timothy Edwards, Elbridge Gerry,
John Hancock, Samuel Holten, and James Lovell. But three of these did not attend at
all in 1779, namely Dana, Edwards, and Hancock, leaving four delegates to represent
the state in Philadelphia through the first half of the year. On 2 June, Edwards resigned
from a delegation in which he had never served, and in mid-June Samuel Adams took
leave for a visit home.

Much of June was therefore spent by the General Court in trying to strengthen its
delegation during a period when its interests were very much at stake. On the 4th,
Artemas Ward was elected in the place of Edwards, resigned; but ten days later Ward
declined to serve. Meanwhile, on the 10th, the House passed a resolve “directing one
of the gentlemen who are members of Congress for this State, and now within the same,
to repair to Congress without delay; and empowering two delegates to represent the
State therein.” On the 16th it elected James Warren in Ward's place, but he declined
next day, whereupon George Partridge was chosen. After much hesitation and reconsideration,
Partridge finally accepted on 29 June. All this did relatively little to strengthen
the Massachusetts delegation. See Mass., House Jour., May–Oct. 1779, p. 21, 23, 28, 37–38, 48, 50, 56, 72–73; Burnett, ed., Letters of Members, 4:liii–liv.